The Joys Of Retro Style In A Digital Age

New and improved doesn’t always mean better. Although digital technology has made our lives easier in many ways, there are times when taking a cue from the way things happen in the past can add to an experience, turning it from an everyday occurrence to a truly special occasion.

The thoroughly modern mixtape

It used to be that, if you wanted to delight a close friend or loved one with a selection of specially-selected songs, you’d have to flip through every album in your collection, find your favorite tracks, work out how many you could squeeze onto a cassette tape and then write out all the titles without making a mistake.

Today, the rise of digital music has taken all the romance out of making a mixtape – sending an email with links to a set of tracks on a streaming site just isn’t the same. While some big players in the music industry are exploring ways to revive the original idea, you can make your own by copying a set of tracks to a USB drive. The trick is to find a beautiful USB drive that isn’t run-of-the-mill, so it stands out as a gift, and to wrap it beautifully.

Add a personal touch to celebrations

In an age when social media accounts mean you never forget anyone’s birthday and a simple post is all most people expect, investing a little more time and trouble in marking the occasion is a great way to show you really care.

Walk into any big store and you’ll see shelves full of greetings cards, but finding one that reflects your own personality and contains the perfect message is always a challenge. If instead you choose to make a birthday card online the end result will say far more than a shop-bought card ever could. Your creation can evoke a precious memory, a shared experience or a private joke only you and the recipient will understand.

You can send your finished card by email, share it on social media or, if you want to go fully old school, print it off and post it. If you don’t have the right facilities at home, you can send the file to a printer and create a fully personalized product that has the same high-quality feel and finish of a shop-bought card.

Classic games make a comeback

If you want to give a gamer a special treat, take them back in time. Rapidly growing interest in retro games has been helped by the re-release of classic Sega titles including Super Hang-on and Sonic the Hedgehog that are now available on the PlayStation 4 platform. Nostalgic fans have also pooled resources and revived some classic consoles to great success.

The chief attraction is simply that such games are hugely enjoyable. While many modern games require a significant investment of time in “training mode” before the real gameplay can begin, older games let you jump right in straight away.

With extremely limited processing power and storage capacities, early game designers could not rely on fancy graphics or epic cinematic cut scenes to attract players. Instead they had to focus on creating compelling, addictive action with clear goals, set levels of achievement and a limited number of “lives” before you had to start over. It was a winning formula back then and one that continues to attract new fans today.